1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a working member such as a vane, blade or any structure interacting with working fluid in a power plant such as a turbine engine, and more particularly to a system for transferring thermal energy between the working member and a thermal fluid for, by way of example and not limitation, heating and deicing a strut of an intake assembly.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,440 discloses hollow inlet guide vanes in the air intake assembly of a gas turbine engine. The inlet guide vanes are working members, each having at least one surface that functions to act on a working fluid. Generally, a working fluid can be air, a mixture of fuel and air, and/or post-combustion gases. A working member can cause movement of the working fluid or can be driven in movement by the working fluid. A surface of the working member that acts on the working fluid is referred to as the working surface. Generally, a working member has a thickness dimension substantially less than its width or length. Working members can take forms other than inlet guide vanes, such as inlet struts, blades, vanes spaced from the inlet, or impellers.
A gas turbine engine is a form of power plant. A power plant is capable of driving a load by the conversion of heat, pressure, radiant, and/or gravitational energy into mechanical motion. Power plants can include a motor in combination with the motor's energy supply or its exhaust treatment.
In the '440 patent, an interior chamber of the inlet guide vanes are supplied with pressurized bleed air. The interior of the vanes are provided with orifices through which the bleed air must flow, and those orifices are tuned to a desired frequency which sets up vane vibrations. This arrangement provides deicing by both the supply of heated bleed air which impinges on the selected areas of the vanes and by the vibrations which are set up in the vanes, and it does so simply with the use of the bleed air.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,828 discloses a turbine airfoil used in a gas turbine engine that includes a plurality of cavities opening in a direction facing the airfoil surface. Each cavity has cooling holes communicating with an internal cooling fluid passage of the airfoil. The airfoil surface above the cavity is a thermal barrier coating having a plurality of cooling holes communicating with the cavity. Each cavity is filled with a porous metal or foam metal material. Heat is transferred from the airfoil surface to the porous metal. A cooling fluid passes through the porous metal, attracts heat from the porous metal, and flows out the holes onto the airfoil surface to cool the airfoil.